SOURCES of TOLERANCE and INTOLERANCE in ISLAM the Case of the People of the Book by Ibrahim Kalin
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SOURCES OF TOLERANCE AND INTOLERANCE IN ISLAM The Case of the People of the Book by Ibrahim Kalin slam’s encounter with other religions encountered from its earliest inception is as old as Islam itself. The two to the modern period make up a long Isources of Islam, i.e., the Qur’ān and list: the religious traditions of the pre- Hadith, contain extensive discussions, Islamic (jahiliyyah) Arabs, Mazdeans in narrations, and injunctions on the Mesopotamia, Iran, and Transoxania, various religious traditions before Islam Christians (of different communions and especially Judaism and Christianity. like Nestorians in Mesopotamia and The Muslim awareness of the multiplicity Iran, Monophysites in Syria, Egypt and of faith traditions is evident not only in Armenia, Orthodox Melkites in Syria, the Qur’ān but also in the sayings of the Orthodox Latins in North Africa), Jews in prophet Muhammad as well as in the various places, Samaritans in Palestine, later Islamic scholarship. Historically, the Mandaeans in south Mesopotamia, fi rst Muslim community came into being Harranians in north Mesopotamia, within a fairly diverse society where Manichaeans in Mesopotamia and Jews, Christians, pagans, polytheists, Egypt, Buddhists and Hindus in Sind, monotheists, fi re-worshippers (Magians tribal religions in Africa, pre-Islamic or Majus), and others lived together Turkic tribes, Buddhists in Sind and across the Arabian Peninsula. The major the Panjab, and Hindus in the Panjab.1 and minor religions that the Islamic world In short, Islam is no stranger to the 36 challenge of other religions. The fact that those other than Jews and Christians. Islam is the last of the three Abrahamic This, however, was complemented faiths puts it in a special relationship by an economic system that allowed with Judaism and Christianity. On the non-Muslims to move freely across one hand, the Qur’ān defi nes Jews and the social strata of Muslim societies Christians as the People of the Book (ahl in which they lived. Following the al-kitab) and gives them the status of vocation of Prophet Muhammad, protected religious communities (ahl al- Muslims always encouraged free trade dhimmah) under the provision of paying and, therefore, unlike Christianity, did a religious tax called jizya (compare not have to discriminate against Jews the Qur’ān, al-Tawbah 9:29). Within as international merchants or money- this legal framework, the People of lending usurers. Socially, there was the Book are accorded certain rights, nothing in the Islamic tradition similar the most important of which is the to the Hindu caste system that would right of religious belief, i.e., no forced have led to the treatment of Hindus conversion. On the other hand, the in discriminatory manners. Instead, Qur’ān engages the People of the Book Muslims treated Hindus as members of head-on as the primary counterparts of a different socio-religious community a serious dialogue on the unity of God, whose internal affairs were regulated the Abrahamic tradition, some biblical by Hindu, not Islamic, laws. Politically, stories, salvation, the hereafter, and Muslim rulers were more or less the nature of Jesus Christ. The Qur’ān pragmatic and used relatively lenient is explicit and occasionally harsh in its legal provisions to ensure the loyalty criticism of certain Jewish and Christian of their non-Muslim subjects. Forced themes because no serious dialogue conversion or economic discrimination is possible without raising the most was not in the interest of the state or fundamental issues. the Muslim communities. This socio- In relation to the treatment of economic and legal framework, thus, non-Muslims, we thus see a tension played a key role in the rapid spread of between what we might loosely call Islam and facilitated the development the requirements of law and theological of a “culture of coexistence” in Muslim doctrine. Islamic law grants certain rights societies that had considerable non- to non-Muslims including freedom of Muslim populations from the Balkans religion, property, travel, education, and and Anatolia to the subcontinent of government employment. These rights India. extend not only to Jews and Christians Legal protection, however, is not but also to other faith traditions a licence to theological laxity. The such as the Manicheans, Hindus, and Qur’ān sharply criticizes the Meccan Buddhists. Muslims encountered these polytheists and accuses them of failing latter communities as the borders of to understand the true nature of God. the Islamic world expanded beyond Jews and Christians are not spared from the Arabian Peninsula. One of the criticism, some of which are general major legal adjustments in this process and some specifi c. The primary reason was the enlargement of the concept for the Qur’ān’s constant dialogue with of the People of the Book to include them is its unfl inching effort to hold 37 them up to higher moral and religious standards than the Meccan pagans. As the two heirs or claimants to the legacy of Abraham, Jewish and Christian communities are expected to uphold the principles of monotheism and accept the new revelation sent through the prophet Muhammad. The Qur’ān calls upon them to recognize Islam as part of the Abrahamic tradition: 2 “Say: O People of the Book. Come to a word [kalimah] common between us and you: that we shall worship none but God, and that we shall ascribe no partners unto Him, and that none of us shall take others for lords beside God. And if they turn away, then say: Bear witness that we are they who have surrendered (unto Him).” 3 (al-i ‘Imran 3: 64) The tension between theological certitude and legal protection is further complicated by another tension between the unity of the essential message of religions and the multiplicity of socio-religious communities. The tension is real with theological and political consequences. The problem nature of the divine revelation: he is is how to explain and then reconcile the most important fi gure to unite the discrepancy between the unity of Jews, Christians, and Muslims, despite the divine message and the diversity the fact that Moses, Jesus, and of faith communities to which the Muhammad are also accorded special divine message has been sent. As I places in the Islamic tradition. While shall discuss below, the Qur’ān seeks to Abraham represents the pinnacle of overcome this problem by defi ning the this ecumenism, other prophets are plurality of socio-religious communities seen as bearers of the same message, as part of God’s plan to test different i.e., believing in the unity of God, communities in their struggle for virtue worshipping him alone, and leading a and the common good (al-khayrat). virtuous life. “And before thy time We The universality of divine revelation never sent any apostle without having is a constant theme in the Qur’ān and revealed to him that there is no deity forms the basis of what we might save Me, - [and that,] therefore, you call the Abrahamic ecumenism of shall worship Me [alone]!” (al-Anbiya monotheistic religions. As the father 21:25). of monotheism, Abraham is assigned a The Qur’ān presents this claim to central role to represent the universalist universality as a trait of not only Islam 38 things, which we see in some Qur’ānic verses (compare al-Rahman 55:1–18; Isra 17:44), is of particular signifi cance since it establishes “surrendering to God” (islam) as both a cosmological and human-religious principle. The universality of divine message extends beyond revealed books all the way to the natural world. This universalism, however, is always qualifi ed by a reference to true faith in God and His decision to send messengers to warn those who are mistaken. “Say: “We be- lieve in God, and in that which has been revealed unto us, and that which has been revealed unto upon Abraham and Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and their descendants, and that which has been vouchsafed by their Sustainer unto Moses and Jesus and all the [other] prophets: we make no distinction between any of them. And unto Him do we surrender ourselves [literally “we’re muslims to Him”].” (al-i ‘Imran 3:84) These specifi c references to the prophets of Abrahamic monotheism but also other Abrahamic faiths and calls shows Islam’s specifi c interest to have upon Jews and Christians specifi cally a constant dialogue with the People of to renew their bond with the father the Book and form a kind of religious of monotheism. The true religion is alliance with them against the Meccan “islam” (with a small “i”) in the sense polytheists. If the prophet Abraham of “surrendering oneself to God” is understood correctly as the father fully and unconditionally. Once this of monotheism, then the theological common denominator is secured, ritual differences between Jews, Christians and differences and even some theological Muslims can be negotiated. The Qur’ān disparities can be overcome. The Qur’ān is, thus, absolutely uncompromising on calls all to islam without making a the fundamental Abrahamic principle, distinction: “Do they seek a faith other i.e., surrendering oneself to the one than in God [din Allāh], although it God alone: “For, if one goes in search is unto Him that whatever is in the of a religion other than surrendering to heavens and on earth surrenders itself God (al-islam), it will never be accepted [aslama], willingly or unwillingly, since from him, and in the life to come he shall unto Him all must return?” (al-i ‘Imran be among the lost” (al-i ‘Imran 3:85). 3:83; compare also al-Ra’d 13:15). The Commenting on the verse, Ibn Kathir reference to the cosmological order of says that “whoever follows a path 39 other than what God has ordained, it discussion.